Economy of Birshatar
History After the establishment of Birshatari independence in 1953, land reform began in earnest. All landowners with more than 120 hectares of irrigated land or 460 hectares of rain-fed land had their properties reduced to a maximum of either 8 hectares of irrigated land or 45 hectares of rain-fed land. Initial attempts at land reform were not entirely successful as land reform legislation at the time did not set a minimum amount of land that peasants could be allocated, meaning that some received extremely small parcels of land barely suitable for subsistence farming. Additionally, there were restrictions to the transfer of land reform land; it was heritable but could not be sold, rented, or fragmented by inheritance. In addition, whilst landless and small peasants received land under the land reform law, they did not necessarily get access to water, and did not receive machinery. Whilst loans were available from the Agricultural Cooperative Bank, smallholders found it hard to obtain these loans as they lacked sufficient security. During the 1970s, Birshatari industry underwent drastic development, with large amounts of new infrastructure being built. These included a paper mill, two fertiliser plants, a major power plant, two cement factories, four sugar refineries, eight cereal mills, factories for the production of aluminium parts, cables, synthetics, tyres, building materials, china, glass, ceramics, bulbs, drugs, batteries, and more than ten plants for the textile and food industries. The railways and air fleet also received significant upgrades. However, investments for agriculture were largely neglected, with this pattern continuing into the mid-1980s. Furthermore, as many of these enterprises required skilled labour, numerous foreign workers had to be hired, often from Krakozhia or even from the Laltofian Confederation. In addition, whilst the State Planning Organisation was meant to have administrative control over the public-sector economy, it was often ignored or bypassed in favour of economic actions promoting the personal interests of government elites, helping to exacerbate a problem common to planned economies; a lack of incentives for rational economic behaviour. Reforms have generally focused on state control and centralisation of said control of the economy. Replacing the role of the bourgeois merchant class in the importing of goods were various specialised public sector agencies such as the General Organisation for Fodder and the General Organisation for the Trade of Pharmaceuticals. However, the merchant class has suffered less than the industrialists in Birshatar, and since the accession to power of Shihab al-Hashim in 1975, their role has been largely restored, with al-Hashim's intifa policies having opened up large profitable opportunities for the merchant classes with the growth of a salaried middle class. Starting in the 1980s, the Birshatari government began to push forward the ideas of autarky (iktifa' al-dhati), self-reliance (i'timad 'ala dhat), and guidance or rationalisation of consumption (tarshid al-istihlak). In the late 1980s, the Birshatari government sought to encourage the establishment of enterprises devoted to light industry and high-tech products. French and Tabi'atstani help resulted in the construction of factories producing spark plugs, batteries, locks, and household appliances. Other industries that began to develop at the time include pharmaceuticals and plastics. Sectors of the economy Write the second section of your page here. Planning The Birshatari government has two main organisations responsible for planning; the Planning Board, and the Ministry of National Planning. The Planning Board is responsible for distributing projects to certain government departments for their execution, whilst the Ministry of National Planning handles the management of the carrying out of such projects. The Planning Board includes the President of Birshatar, the Ministers of Planning, Finance, Economics, Industry and Minerals, Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Irrigation, Works and Housing, Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research, and the Governor of the Central Bank, as well as five experts as part-time members. Heads of the technical departments of the Ministry of Planning are also allowed to attend meetings as non-voting members. The permanent members include the Vice President of the Revolutionary Command Council, the Ministry of Planning, the President of the Higher Agricultural Council, the Minister of Economics, the Minister of Industry and Minerals, the Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, the Minister of Irrigation, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Works and Housing, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the Governor of the Central Bank, the President of the Organisation for Scientific Research, and seven members drawn from various national organisations for providing expert advice. The executive organ of the Planning Board is the 12-member Steering Committee, which serves as a body of experts and prepares plans for approval by the Planning Board and supervises the work of various technical committees. The Steering Committee is made up of the Minister of Planning (who acts as the Chairman), the five part-time members of the Planning Board, and the Director Generals of the technical departments of the Ministry of National Planning (Agriculture, Industry, Economics, Transportation and Communications, Education, Building and Services) who serve as ex-officio members. There are also a number of units under the Planning Board that were formed to conduct research and deal with technical problems related to planning and development, these being the National Centre for Consultancy and Management Development, the Birshatari Specifications and Standards Organisation, the National Centre for Engineering and Architectural Consultancy, and the National Computer Centre. These organisations give advice to all the departments when requested, organise training courses for executive personnel, and organise research projects. Almost all ministries also have planning units that are designed to analyse projects proposed by each department and coordinate them with the central planning authority before they are reviewed and approved by the Ministry of National Planning an the Planning Board. Apart from its Ministry of Industry, which was reorganised in 1970, Birshatar has eight other major units involved in the supervision of industry. These are the Public Organisation for Food Industries, the Public Organisation for Spinning and Weaving, the Public Organisation for Petrochemical Industries, the Public Organisation for Engineering Industries, the Public Organisation for Construction Material Industries, the Public Organisation for Chemical, Leather, and Tobacco Industries, the Public Organisation for Industrial Research, and the Public Organisation for Consultation for Ongoing Projects. All projects put forward by the various government departments are also coordinated by the Ministry for National Planning, and carefully scrutinised by experts in the various committees of the Planning Board. Labour Foreign economic relations Category:Birshatar Category:Economy of Birshatar